lunch, and an afternoon of writing. Tomorrow, they would begin shooting the very first episode of the season. Her nerves were aflame with anticipation of both the official start of the season and her hopeful run-in with the possible leading man in her life.
She opted for a simple pencil skirt with a pale yellow chiffon blouse. Nothing extravagant or ostentatious, but classy, fun, and just a little bit sexy. Butterflies swarmed her abdomen as she groomed herself for the day ahead. She expected it would be quite a busy week, but she welcomed the excitement.
What Elle didn’t expect upon settling in at the sizable table in the conference room was the rising tension between her two leads. Typically, table reads were a relaxed experience for all involved. The actors had received their scripts the previous week and were given plenty of time to study their own lines. Then, the table read allowed them to work on delivery and ask for direction from both Elle and Rob.
The normally relaxed environment, however, was anything but. Tension hovered above the table and Elle struggled to decipher the source of the strain as her actors struggled through the scene. She knew it wasn’t the writing. This was the first episode of the season and had picked up immediately after the cliff-hanger of the season finale. No, it was the actors. Specifically Gina Romano.
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” Nolan delivered his line, his eyes sincere, his voice conveying the desperation Desmond was feeling.
Gina rolled her eyes as Nolan read the line and her response was wooden and stiff, without any of the emotion the script demanded. “I’ve been looking for you too.”
Elle couldn’t take it anymore. She had to interrupt the read. Gina’s unprofessional behavior was unacceptable.
“I’m sorry, is there a problem here?” She pushed her reading glasses down to the tip of her nose and glared at Gina.
Gina wouldn’t look her in the eye. “Nope, no problem here.”
“Maybe we should take a break,” Nolan suggested, clearing his throat and tapping his copy of the script on the table.
“Fine, whatever.” Gina dropped her attention to the floor, retrieving her phone from her purse.
Elle stared at the two, each refusing to look one another in the eye. She had to get to the bottom of this. Sure, Nolan would eventually be written out of the show, but they had twenty-three episodes to shoot before that would become a reality.
Elle stood and walked to the door. “Nolan, care to step outside for a minute?”
Nolan inhaled deeply, glaring at Gina before pushing his chair back. The bottoms squeaked against the linoleum floor. He huffed, ran his hand through his dark hair, and followed Elle into the hallway, closing the door behind him.
“What was that all about?”
“I don’t know.” He avoided her eyes just as Gina had at the table.
What the hell is going on?
“I can stand out here all day, so . . .”
“Fine, but . . . you can’t tell her I told you.”
Elle’s annoyance level was reaching a new high. “What are we, five? No, I make no promises. You two are messing with my show.”
Nolan’s shoulders slumped as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his worn jeans. He looked down at the floor.
“It’s no big deal.”
“Obviously.” Elle had quite the habit of handling conflict with sarcasm. She knew it made her seem tough as nails, and she didn’t care. She was irritated they’d managed to ruin the excitement she’d had flurrying in her belly all morning. Now, she was breaking up a fight between two adults who were acting like kindergarteners.
“She’s pissed off, that’s all.”
“About?”
“My leaving.” Elle continued to stare at Nolan, waiting for him to finish his sentence. He looked at her like she was a raving lunatic. “The show. She’s pissed I’m leaving the show.”
Elle crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Sorry, not buying it.”
Nolan’s eyes rose to meet Elle’s. The whites of his eyes became more prevalent as he widened them in disbelief.
“She read with Luke Kingston last week and she was fine. Whatever this is, it’s recent.”
“She found out . . . about me and—me and someone on staff.”
Whitney. Of course. They’d slept together, but . . . why would Gina care? Then it dawned on her.
“Wait . . . you and Gina? You’re . . . a couple? How in the world did I not know this?” Elle was shocked. She’d worked with the two for years and had always assumed their chemistry was simply